Tea with Squiddelus
by Couture Girl
Summary: Luna introduces her lover Theodore Nott to her best friend, Squiddelus.


**AN: Written for lightweight's the Romantic Setting Competition! over at HPFC. My pairing was Theodore/Luna (duh) and number twenty: Calm Lake. Prompt: Options. **

**Also this is a gift for the wonderful LunaAlyxandra who is just the most awesome person for doing my banners.  
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**Squiddelus does not belong to me, the lovely TuesdayNovember let me borrow him, but well I tweaked him a bit ;)  
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Instead of going to sleep like any normal Hogwarts students, Theodore and Luna were making their way to the Black Lake. But of course Theo and Luna weren't normal students or a common couple. Maybe their strangeness was what had brought them together – or the fact that they were soul mates and had been together in their other life.

If people knew about them, they would question them. They had just gotten together a week ago. How could they feel so much love, adoration, care and passion for each other?

The couple was rare and intriguing but they didn't question their love; they cherished it deeply. Both were each other's air, water and warmth. Both had lost their mothers at a very young age and from then on something had been broken inside, but since they had laid eyes on each other, both had known that they would be together sooner or later and would be mended again.

Without each other, they would not necessarily die, but they would feel hollow and then a sudden pain that they would not be able to live with. Survive, yes, but live happily and content? No, not ever. With Theodore, Luna felt stable and loved because he listened and cared about what she had to say. For Theodore it was having someone who actually cared for him! Luna had taken her time to actually come up to him and have conversations about strange magical creatures or the color of his eyes or that they had been together in another life. Her blue eyes had really looked at him and saw that he had scars not only on his body but inside as well. He loved her and she felt the same. They wouldn't leave each other anytime soon.

Theodore helped his quirky lover with the basket she was holding and asked her what it was. Luna smiled dreamily, distracted and all knowing, making him flush. "Daddy owled me my mum's tea set. I only ask my Daddy to owl my mum's tea set for special occasions."

His eyebrow went up in interest. He wondered if this special occasion would bring them even closer together, not just emotionally but physically as well. He was after all a teenage boy. And he really couldn't get enough of his strange lover. Expecting to continue their walk to the Forest like always, he was a bit surprised when her hand steered him to the right, towards the Black Lake.

A memory flashed through them while they continued to walk. Looking at her, Theodore smiled at the sudden blush on Luna's cheeks. This was where their quirky relationship had started. Finally arriving at their destination, both sat and Luna opened the basket. Her dainty fingers delicately retrieved the set and laid it with great care on the grass.

The tea set was ready, and Luna was about to serve the cinnamon tea when a ripple on the water made her and Theo turn. A red tentacle appeared before them causing Luna to smile. "Squiddelus! You remembered! I thought you weren't going to be here, seeing that you always like to take walks inside the castle," Luna told her debonair squid friend.

The mention of the Giant Squid managing to walk in the castle made Theo frown. Luna had told him about it before and at the time he hadn't believed her. It was really impossible for a Giant Squid to walk in the castle without being caught…

Luna turned to him and served him tea. As if she had read his thoughts, which he thought could be possible (she was Luna Lovegood after all), she said, "You don't believe me, do you?"

Theodore raised the cup to his lips and drank. Maybe this was where his lover got her unique scent of cinnamon. He put the cup down and his green eyes watched her as she passed Squiddelus a cup of tea.

"It's just – how can he walk if he's a Squid and if he could make it to the castle he would get caught by Filch and that horrid Mrs. Norris," he reasoned, his tone gentle but rational. It was the tone he used to win debates on various topics of interest.

His eyes widened as the tentacle, which was wet and slippery, lifted the porcelain teacup with great ease and slipped inside. It came out once again and to Theodore it looked like the Squid had taken two sips of the cinnamon tea without letting the lake water get inside.

Luna smiled knowingly at him. "Well it's just like how we don't get caught by them for taking our nightly walks to the Forest."

She sipped her tea and laid her head on his thigh, looking up at him. His scarred hand went to her nose and traced it until he reached her red lips. Leaning in to kiss her, Theodore froze as something wet touched his cheek.

A giggle escaped Luna as her hand went to his cheek. "Squiddelus likes you!"

Theo's eyes looked at the red tentacle as it moved up and down. He didn't know if that was good or bad.

"Squiddelus normally doesn't like a lot of people. But he and I think alike, and he perceives you as I perceive you. How marvelous! My friend likes my lover," Luna said happily. And that was the reason for this tea by the Black Lake: Theodore could officially be introduced as her lover to her best friend.

Theodore smiled at Luna and drank some more tea. With each passing second he loved her even more.

"You know, he didn't like Ernest. Said he was too pompous and full of himself," Luna said serenely.

"Ernest? You mean Ernie Macmillian?" he asked. It was true – that bloke was too full of himself, more so than Draco. Theodore didn't like him, even more so after he had found out that Ernie had asked Luna to the Yule Ball. Luna nodded and started to hum under her breath. Theo frowned. "Wait, why did you bring Macmillian here to meet Squide…Squiddelus?" he asked, feeling jealous.

Another tentacle appeared and patted Theodore's head, making it wet. Somehow he felt that the Squid was telling him not to worry.

Luna looked at him. "I didn't. While I was talking to Squiddelus, Ernest came and invited me to the ball."

His green eyes squinted in anger. Luna rolled her own and her small hand rose to caress his cheek. "Oh don't worry, Theo. I only said yes so I could see you. And remember the Nargles had taken him somewhere…"

Theodore smirked. That night at the ball they had almost kissed, that night he had accepted that he had feelings for her, that night he thought he wasn't good for her. He hadn't been able to sleep after that until finally he'd kissed her in the lake that one night, just a week ago exactly. His green eyes had a soft look to them as he gazed at Luna and he completely forgot about his cinnamon tea and the Giant Squid's approval.

He could faintly hear the splash of water as the Squid's tentacles appeared one by one, waving in a trance-like movement. But Theodore eyes were only for Luna, her white blond hair fanning around his legs, her pale skin shining against the moonlight. As he leaned close to her, her ocean blue eyes were dreamy but they drooped, as if she understood what he was going to do.

His long fingers traced her red lips and she parted them. Theo's mouth was hovering over her lips. Normally when he was this close to Luna, he would not think twice to kiss her like last time. But this time he took a couple of seconds. Theodore loved having options. He was a Slytherin and didn't like to jump to conclusions or into things. He was the type to think thoroughly about it and choose the one where he would come out with less scars and pain.

With Luna he had two options.

To leave her and have her safe and be far away from her so she wouldn't have the same fate as his mother. But that would hurt both of them.

Or be with her now and enjoy this burst of happiness that he felt when he was near her, embrace the love that they had for each other and kiss the warm skin that would always be there for him.

"You're thinking too much…" she whispered.

Her hand snaked to his head and their lips met in a kiss that made Luna's toes curl and Theo's skin tingle. Moments like these were the forefront of Theodore's mind. He would be with his nymph and never leave her side, even if it killed him in the end.

The quirky couple was too focused in each other, in trying to bask in each other's warmth and feel each other, that they didn't notice that the red tentacles now writhing on the grass slowly turned into arms and legs.

A man with a scruffy blonde hair and a beard to match came out of the lake. His clothes that should have been wet were not; they were the total opposite. His head turned to the side and smirked at the couple. He was happy that his little friend had finally reunited with her soul mate. Looking at the castle he made his way and began to walk silently.

Luna and Theodore were never caught by Filch and Mrs. Norris when they were outside at night nor was Squiddelus ever heard in the castle as he walked. There was a reason as Luna said. It was simple – you see, they were magical and in love. Filch and Mrs. Norris could never catch someone with these two characteristics, because they weren't magical nor in love with someone as Luna was with Theodore and vice versa.

And as for Squiddelus, his love was for life itself.

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